Historical Background on the 6th Rate Frigate

The 6th Rate is the smallest class of warships in the English Navy and the smallest navy vessel to be commanded by a Captain. The designation initially referred to naval vessels fielding 16-28 guns on a single flush deck. Later in the 18th century, the ships were often upgraded to as many as 30 guns, usually 6pdrs or sakers. Frigate built and ship-rigged and with a length of about 100 feet, it boasted an impressive combination of speed and firepower, making it adept at patrolling trade routes and engaging in naval warfare. Later into the 18th century, the 6th rate Frigate would regularly carry deployments of trained marines among their ranks for use in initiating or repelling boarding actions.

Many ships of similar design were used as privateers and fast merchantmen (especially in the slave trade) during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. La Concorde, famously captured by Edward “Blackbeard” Teach and transformed into the legendary Queen Anne’s Revenge is a great example of this style of ship being used by pirates during the era.

6th Rate Frigate Ship Stat Card

Here is a copy of the 6th Rate ship stat card, front and back, for your reference. If you wish to save and print it, each side should be 4″ x 6″. We recommend using a rigid card sleeve for your ship stat card, allowing you to use erasable markers to track damage, critical hits, and reloads during gameplay.

At its core, the 6th Rate is essentially an upgraded Light Frigate. It expands the ship from a Size 3 to a Size 4 model. This means it has an additional deck allowing for more models and a LOT MORE guns! All sail settings and sailing-related attributes are identical between the ships.

Speed and Maneuverability

A Windward penalty of -2″ is average for most Size 3 ships, but when paired with a Top Speed of 5″ you are still able to turn your max of 3″ without suffering loss. That’s 1″ faster than the Galleon, the other Size 4 ship.

Sail Settings & Draft

One primary difference between this larger ship and smaller vessels is the number of sail settings. Like the Light Frigate, it takes 5 Change Sail Setting actions to go from Anchored to full speed of 5″. A ship’s sail settings reflect a combination of the number of sails on the ship and the manpower and time it takes for such a vessel to get underway or anchor.

In most games, this doesn’t matter because you set your sail at the beginning and rarely adjust it by more than one setting up or down. However, if the ship runs aground on a shoal or collides with terrain, it will take 4 actions to go from your maximum Sail Setting to 0″. It then takes a Dedicated Repair to get off the rocks and 4 more Actions to get back up to full speed… which is unlikely to happen in a 6 Turn game. Especially, since you will want to keep fighting to defend yourself from opponents that haven’t run aground.

Sailing Strategy & Tactics Suggestions

• Staysails The 6th Rate includes the Staysails ability, which makes sailing windward a little more tolerable.
• A Top Speed of 5″ matches the top sail setting so there is not a gap for wind or a speed up with an Advanced Maneuver. Keep this in mind when planning Advanced Maneuvers.
• Shoals are risky. A Draft value of 9 means you will run aground 50% of the time you enter a shoal (>=6 on the check). However, because of the ship’s length of you will likely have to roll 2-3 times making the odds of running aground even more dangerous.
• Initial deployment is key.
  • If you are engaging smaller ships meaning to board you, deploying horizontally will keep them at bay further and present your broadsides sooner.
  • If you are boarding or going for objectives, deploy bow first toward the center of the board. With a 4″ deployment zone and the length of the ship you are already 20+ inches into the board. In most cases, the bow of your ship can reach the center of the board in one or two moves, with a Freshly Careened Hull Ship Upgrade you may be able to reach the center before the game even begins!
• Longer ships swing wide. Sailing a Size 4 ship is very different than a small sloop. your nose and tail move further on a turn, affecting your range increments more than on smaller ships. It will take a few games to get the feel for sailing them ship.

Firepower

This ship excels in the firepower category! She can hold 26 Guns when fully equipped with Bow and Stern Chasers. This is only 2 Guns short of the Galleon. Additionally, she packs 6-8 swivel guns (-2 if you take the bow chasers). That is an AMAZING amount of firepower for its speed factor.

As a Size 4 ship, she also has access to Heavy Guns, but she also has the Limited Capacity Special Rule. Make sure you check your stat card to make sure you have the latest version. The original stat card allowed you to take Heavy Guns on multiple decks, but the latest (based on the Raise the Black expansion) limits you to a single deck of Heavy Guns. However, if you take Heavy Guns, you may not use your highest Sail Setting making your max sail setting speed 4 inches (without upgrades). There is an exception to this limitation with the Pargo’s Marineros faction ability (discussed later) that allows you to take additional Heavy Guns.

Bow & Stern Chasers

In most games, Chasers tend to be less useful in games than they would be in real life. As most games only last 6 round rounds, you don’t typically have your Bow and Stern facing your primary opponent more than a couple of times per game. In real life, ships could chase each other for hours before engaging in a full-blown duel.

However, if you have a boarding list, bow chasers with grapeshot can be a great option to soften up your targets before you engage in close combat.

Against ships larger than Size 2, chasers rarely inflict enough damage with roundshot to justify their expense. Against smaller opponents you can wear them down, and if nothing else it can intimidate your opponent into not going for a rake as you can trade shots. Rakes are still deadlier to your crew so you have to be careful when you move. In large games against multiple opponents or if facing Natives with multiple boats, chasers are useful for added defense against swarming tactics.

If you are doing an Amphibious assault, chasers can be useful to soften your target during the approach, but with the length of the ship, you will likely reach your drop-off point in round 1 or 2 limiting their usefulness.

Swivel Guns

4 Swivels on the Fore Deck is EXCELLENT for both assault and defense. They become extremely effective on a boarding force as you can inflict casualties and Fatigue on approach.

The swivels on the 3rd and rear deck are a little harder to take advantage of as dedicated firing platforms as you only need 7-9 models to operate them. Because Swivels only require two Reloads, pairing them with an inexpensive Sailors with muskets or Militia unit is a good combo. You can then fire your muskets and Swivels in the same salvo and Reload in the same cycle pattern.

Durability

Like the Light Frigate, this vessel starts at Fortitude 5 and Integrity 6. This makes it awesome for going toe-to-toe in a broadside battle with any ship at or below its class.

Rigging Durability

Because of its larger masts and sail profile, the rigging durability increases from the Light Frigate’s Fortitude 3 to Fortitude 4. This raises the max rigging damage from 12 to a total of 18. Very few players focus on rigging so the increase is unlikely to affect gameplay. However, if an opponent chooses to take chainshot, it can be something to be concerned about.

Hull Durability

Aside from the Galleon, this ship has the highest Fortitude and Integrity in the game.

• With a Fortitude of 5 and an Integrity of 6, this ship can take 24 damage before being reduced to a Fortitude of 1.
• At 24 damage this ship is only vulnerable to massed cannons with a Commander using the Broadside! rule.

Ship Durability Stats

Rigging

• Fortitude: 4
• Integrity: 6

Hull

• Fortitude: 5
• Integrity: 6

One difference in this ship compared to the Galleon is its lower height and shorter gunwale positioning. Because of its height, the Galleon often requires boarding parties to take Dedicated Climb Action to board. Against most ships, only the rear deck offers this benefit. However, this is a boon in reverse if you are the one wanting to board. The lower deck allows you to board without a Climb action.

Ship Model Capacity

The 6th Rate has four decks with varying model capacities. These capacities assume no cannons to get the maximum allowable capacities.

• Deck 1 (bow): 16 models
• Deck 2: 35 + 4 models with a fighting top
• Deck 3: 26 models + 4 models with a fighting top
• Deck 4 (stern): 16 models
• Total Capacity: 95 or 107 with 3 fighting tops

SubSections

Despite being a 4 Deck ship, the 6th Rate Frigate does not have subsections other than the Fighting Tops. Cannons that appear below the decks are manned by crews on the top. It is important to note that the ship has the “Deck Guns” attribute which is vastly different from “Gun Decks” on the Galleon.

Deck Guns (Light): Any Cannons mounted as bow chasers or in the rounded gun ports must be Light Cannons.

This limits the caliber of guns you can take on the ship as outlined above.

Fighting Tops Subsections

The 6th Rate has 3 built-in Fighting Tops; one on each of the rear 3 main masts.

The Fighting Tops are a little tricky to use on the ship because of the game size used. The minimum unit size goes up as the total game size increases. This means you break the 300 pt threshold level the minimum unit Size is 5. Fighting tops have a maximum capacity of 4 models.

This means that you can’t put a dedicated unit in the fighting tops and any models have to be a portion of units on the main decks. So for example, you can take a 12-model unit and have 8 on the Main Deck and 4 on a Fighting Top.

Optionally, if you wanted to put an independent unit of 4 or a few models up there, you can utilize the Army Game rules which let you build multiple “companies” that act as a single force. So you are running multiple armies and multiple units activate at once. On paper this allows you to create a tiny force of 50-75 points with 3 units of 4 models placing a separate unit on each top. Those units then activate in conjunction with a unit activating in your larger main force.

Traits, Special Rules, and Upgrades

The back of the ship card is filled with the various traits, special rules, and upgrades to the ship. These elements add character to the ship and some depth of customization allowing you to tailor the ship to your preferred playstyle.

Traits

We’ve covered all of the Traits on the 6th Rate previously, but here is a unified summary for reference:

Fighting Tops (3): Models may be placed in subsections in a ship’s Rigging. Each Fighting Top holds a maximum of 4 models, and follows the rules for Subsections as described on p. 185

Chasers (Bow & Stern): Chasers are Cannons that face either forward out of the Bow, or out back from the Stern of the ship. If cannons are placed in the Chasers gun ports, they fire in the direction they face, with the width of the Bow (or Stern) as their Arc of Fire

Staysails: When moving under sail to windward, this ship is never reduced to its lowest sail setting value that is greater than 0 (unless it is In the Wind’s Eye). Use of Staysails is optional.

Deck Guns (Light): Any Cannons mounted as bow chasers or in the rounded gun ports must be Light Cannons.

Limited Capacity: This ship may only carry Heavy Cannons in one section, If it does so, it may not use its highest Sail Setting.

Ship Upgrades

Ship’s Wheel (+2 pts): -1 bonus to Sailing Tests when attempting Advanced Maneuvers

The Wheel Upgrade for +2 is invaluable if you have a unit with Expert Sailors manning you sails! This means that you pass ANY Advanced Maneuver on a 3+…that’s an 80% guarantee you’ll pass! If you are forced to Tack, this will come in mighty handy! This is insanely useful for using a Wearing Action after a Tack in order to get a 4″ turn!

Sweeps(2) (+2 pts): May move up to 2” under oars while sails are set at speed 0” and the Sweeps are crewed.

+2 Points for Sweeps 2 is cool, but you REALLY should be staying in the wind. If you are forced to Windward, Staysails will always keep you moving at a minimum of 2″.

Bow Chasers (0 pt): This ship may reduce its total number of swivel guns in the bow section by 2 and increase its gun rating in that section by 2.

If you are in a scenario where you are doing an assault or possible chase Bow Chasers are a good option. But in a straight-up fight, especially against a Size 3+ ship the chaser guns rarely put out enough damage to be beneficial in a game. The risk of chaser guns are that they set you up for your enemy to do a raking shot on your ship. So be careful when you move to line up a shot. Lining up at the end of the previous round and hoping for a high space will allow you to shoot and then use your first Move action for your ship to turn aside after firing.

Additional Upgrade Suggestions

The Raise the Black expansion has added a number of new “generic” ship upgrades available to ships. Some of these are worth considering with the 6th Rate.

• Streamlined Hull – for +3 pts this option decreases your Windward penalty by 1 in exchange for a +1 Draft. Since you should be avoiding shoals like the plague anyway, the bonus for sailing Windward can be beneficial. This allows you to reduce Windward penalty to -1″ keeping you moving at fast pace.
• Anti-grappling Measures – in a high-point game, few people want to board a 6th Rate because of the sheer number of models onboard. However, if you take the ship in smaller games or you expect to be faced by multiple smaller ships in larger games, you may want to take the upgrade to discourage boarders with a +2 to their Grapple attempts (moving from 5+ –> 7+).
• Freshly Careened Hull – This is an excellent option for boarding lists. For +4 points, a ship with Freshly Careened Hull can make a single move after deployment at its starting sail setting (Usually that means 5″ for the 6th Rate). This free move brings the 6th Rate closer to its prey.
• Improved Rig – While not as much of an “auto-include” for boarding lists, it is useful against an opponent who isn’t prepared for raw speed. For +4 points, this upgrade increases the ship’s top speed by 1″to 6″! This allows the Sailing Master Fighting Man or a Commander with the Sailing Master Special Rule to make the 6th Rate move 6″ during one of its movements. It also allows you to take better advantage of possible wind bonuses. An extra inch can often be the difference between boarding and having to soak up more cannon or musket fire for a full turn before engaging the enemy in glorious hand-to-hand combat.

Combat Strategy & Tactics Suggestions

There are a variety of combat strategies you can use for captaining the 6th Rate. We’ll break them down by the overarching type of list you plan to use.

Big Guns / Artillery

• In a large game if you pack this beast with big guns it is one of the the most dangerous cannon ships in the game. Only the Galleon can outgun it. A fully loaded 6th Rate with Light or Medium Guns can absolutely devastate a Size 2 Ship or any ship with a Fortitude of 4. A solid broadside can sink them in just a couple of salvos.
• At 200-250 points, its possible to bring anywhere from 8-10 pairs of Light Guns and a commander with enough command points to fire them all off. While Light Guns are weaker than Medium guns, the sheer volume of potential damage makes the chance of a Critical Hit much more likely.
• While taking Heavy Cannons can be tempting, you will lose the 5″ speed the 6th Rate has, and it can only take up to 3 pairs at a time. However, if you use Pargo’s Marineros faction ability, you could have a total of 6 pairs!
• It has been officially ruled that the rearmost deck is officially 8″ from the front deck for purposes of Command Points and Range, despite the physical model size. Per the rules on pg 63, all decks are considered to be 4″ for purposes of determining range. In light of this, the rear deck is 8″ from the front deck despite the physical 9″ distance. This means cheaper commanders with an 8″ command radius can command any unit on the entire ship.

Boarding / Small Arms

• Boarding with the 6th Rate is hilariously easy. Adding a Sailing Master, Improved Rig, and Freshly Careened Hull means on the first activation of the first turn the ship will have moved 11″ from its initial deployment! This, combined with the length of the hull, means closing the distance (especially in the Encounter Scenario) before the Defender can appropriately respond is extremely easy.
• In a chase, the 6th Rate can match the speed of nearly any ship in the game.
• Putting 4 Swivels on the bow is a solid strategy to help soften your target as you approach. Once you get closer to the target, you can swing to the side a bit and grapple and board with the second deck. This allows you to keep firing the Swivels while the rest of the crew starts to charge over.
• The high capacity of her decks makes an excellent platform for Small Arms lists. While the 6th Rate may lack the elevation of the Fluty and Galleon, its speed allows it to get within that crucial mid-range engagement distance allowing muskets and bows to thrive. Simply sail in and use those small arms weapons to suppress the enemy cannon crews.
  If you go with a 100% Militia faction, most militia forces can take at least one sailor unit as a support option. It’s typically a good idea to have at least 1 unit of sailors to handle the rigging and do Advanced Maneuvers.

6th Rate Frigate Painting and Assembly How-To Guides

The 6th Rate Frigate is a large-scale resin model produced by Firelock Games. It is highly detailed and looks great out of the box, but it does need a bit of prep work and cleanup to get it ready for painting and onto the gaming table.

YouTube Video: How To Prepare the Resin Hull of a Blood & Plunder 6th Rate Frigate

Joseph does an unboxing and walkthrough of the ship model and what steps to take to prepare your ship model for gameplay.

We have a couple of guides and suggestions for preparing your glorious 6th Rate model for use in your tabletop games.

Completed 6th rate Frigate Article

Sail & Rigging Instructions

A PDF of the full rigging instructions and sail template cutouts are available for download from Firelock Games. It uses the same rigging mounts as the Galleon does.

Rigging Instructions PDF Download

The 6th Rate uses the same Sail Templates as the Galleon. They are available as free downloads from the Firelock Games DLC section here:

• Galleon Sail Templates – Letter paper size
• Galleon Sail Templates – A4 paper size

Advanced Rigging the Blood & Plunder 6th Rate Frigate

The following is an image of a rigging layout from a historic model. It would be a lot of work, but it’s a solid reference if you are interested.

Video Review of the 6th Rate Frigate

Join Joseph, Guy, and Dan on our YouTube channel as they discuss the glorious 6th-Rate Frigate from Firelock Games. She how this fast, well-armed vessel is perfect for pirate or pirate hunters alike!

Force building With the 6th Rate Frigate

Of all the factions one can play, one stands out superbly: The Dutch Navy. Choosing the “Ships of the Hoorne” faction rule gives any ship the “Heavily Built” upgrade for free! This increases your durability by ignoring the first point of damage to your hull from every artillery attack!

With the release of Raise the Black, some factions (British Royal Navy, French Royal Navy, Spanish Armada, and Brazilian Portuguese Armadillas) gained a work-around for size 4 ships. Previously, in order to fire all 4 decks a player would need a commander with 3 command points to do so. These factions all have a special ability that allows the commander to spend 2 Command Points to have all units that are assigned to Artillery with the Expert Artillery Crew Special Rule and are within the commander’s Command Range take either a Shot or Reload Action. This navy rule allows a fairly low level commander to effectively fire broadsides from the 6th Rate Frigate.

250 Point Forces with a 6th Rate Ship

• 250 Point Dutch Navy Force using Enter Ploeg and Soldaten
• 250 Point English Navy Force with 11 Pairs of Light Cannons
• 250 Point “Oops! All Vizcainos!” Spanish Armada List

Being a size 4 ship, you probably need to be playing at 250 points or more to make this ship work at it’s optimal level. If you’re playing 200 or less, the Light Frigate is likely a better choice.

300-450 Point Forces with a 6th Rate Ship

• 300 Point 26 Gun English Pirate Hunter Force
• 300 Point Dutch Boarding Party w/Piet Heyn
• 350 Point Brethren of the Coast Force led by Monbars the Exterminator
• Blackbeard’s Men with the Queen Anne’s Revenge Ship
• 450 Point Dutch Heyn’s Commissievaarders 

500 Point Forces with a 6th Rate Ship

It can easily go up to 500 points with a full complement of cannons

• 500pt French Navy 6th Rate
• 500 Point Kidd’s Privateers Force with 3 pairs heavy, 6 pairs of medium and 4 pairs of light cannons

The 6th Rate is a powerful gunship, but it’s a difficult vessel to use in games of less than 200 points. Unless playing competitively or building a specialty list, the ship is rarely seen on the table in games less than 300-350pts.

Battle Reports Featuring 6th Rate Frigate Model

Escort at Sea – English Navy vs Brethren of the Coast

A brief battle report of the English Royal Navy (Joseph) vs Brethren of the Coast (Guy). Can the 6th Rate Frigate sail upwind and escort the merchant off the board?

The Battle of Hudson’s Bay

Joseph & Guy play The Battle of Hudson’s Bay from the Fire on the Frontier expansion for Blood & Plunder.

Blood & Plunder Live Battle Report: Armada de Barlovento vs Pirates

This is a super long battle report, but you get to see 100% of the action as Guy and Joseph duel in a storm that steadily gets worse as the game progresses

Photo Gallery of the 6th Rate Frigate in Blood & Plunder

Here is a collection of photos of the 6th Rate Frigate in action! Select an image to zoom in.

Special thanks to all community members committing images to our gallery. If you have pics you’d like to contribute, we’d love to feature them! Just contact us to pass on your photos.

Conclusion

The 6th Rate Rate Frigate is one of the most beautiful ships in Blood & Plunder. Every time it hits the tabletop it turns heads and gets attention. As stunning as it is, even if it doesn’t see the table very often, it is stunning enough to make a set piece in your home. When it does hit the table it makes for a memorable game and a fun time. Large-scale games are always fun and have stories to tell when they are over.

Product Recommendation:

• Blood & Plunder 6th Rate Frigate Ship Model from Firelock Games
• You’re going to need plenty of Sailors & Cannon Crew models to man the guns.
  • Resin Cannon Crew 4pk
  • Plastic Sailor Unit Box 12pk
• The ship comes with a base set of cannons, but you may want to upgrade them:
  • Heavy Cannons 2pk
  • Medium Cannons 6pk

Additional Content Suggestions

• 6th Rate Painting Guide
• YouTube Video Review of the 6th Rate Frigate
• Check out all our other ship reviews, painting guides, rigging guides, and ship stats on our Ultimate Guide to Blood & Plunder Ships page.
• Painting and rigging discussion on a Completed 6th Rate Frigate Model

Photos in this article are used with the permission of Dan Carlson, Liam Taylor, and The Just Dice League.